


Day 1- Drowning

by Broken_Clover



Series: 12 Days of Whump [1]
Category: Guilty Gear
Genre: CPR, Drowning, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-17 22:55:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16983366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_Clover/pseuds/Broken_Clover
Summary: A raid gone wrong sends the Jellyfish pirates crashing into the ocean.





	Day 1- Drowning

So…was this really how it was gonna end?

The last few hours were a hazy blur in Johnny’s mind. He vaguely recalled issuing the order for he and half the crew to take one of the Mayship’s mini-flyers and finally confront the airship full of valuables that they’d had their eyes on for quite a bit of time. Of course, ‘confront’ in that case meant ransacking the ship and stealing everything of value, but details. It’d be enough profit to keep the girls fed and the ship flying for quite a bit of time.

The merchants hadn’t even seen them coming from miles away. Which was why he had no idea how it was that they’d manage to not only kick the Jellyfish off but shoot down their mini-ship at they tried to escape.

Cannons. Was it cannons? The more he tried to think, the less he could make out. Maybe he’d feel better after sleeping…

Right, he remembered now. It _was_ cannons. They’d torn right through the ship’s hull, just barely missing May’s arm by a half-foot. The holes were too big to patch on the fly, even with Novel’s genius engineering. Not to mention, at least one wing had been ripped clean off in the process. What remained of the cockpit had been spinning and spiraling as it crashed down to the ocean below.

At least, he thinks that’s how it happened. It’s hard to think when you’re dying.

Even when crashing in a broken plane, Johnny tries his best to keep everyone safe. Judging from the environment around them, the shore was about a half-mile away. Not too far of a swim. The shore appeared to dump right into dense foliage, so if those bastards had the nerve to try and shoot at them more, it would serve as cover.

The ship had all but dismantled itself by the time they all hit the water. Striking the surface bare felt like being hit by a wagon, but Johnny only managed to be distracted by the pain for a second before his concern for the girls kicked in.

Debris was crashing down all around them, further obscuring his view. He heard April’s screams, stifled by the bubble of water before it vanished. Johnny dove under the, trying not to panic yet. Panicking wouldn’t solve anything. He needed to be a leader now.

April would up being stuck to her seat, unable to get the buckle to come undone. As heavy as it felt in the water, he’s able to unsheathe his sword and cut right through the belt, and tosses her arms around his shoulders as he swims back to the surface.

“Headcount!” He shouts over the turbulent waves. “April’s here! Can anyone hear me?!”

“Here, Johnny!” May paddles around a crescent of metal, sans hat and cheek scratched but otherwise unharmed. “I could have sworn I just saw July-”

“July reporting in!” A raspy voice calls, though hidden from view. “I’ve got Novel, but she’s out cold!”

“Shore’s about a half-mile west, start swimming.” Johnny thought for a moment. “Wait, where’s March?”

That sent the marooned pirates into a tizzy, and he struggles to keep them calm. At the same time, he notices the merchant ship looming.

“Dammit. I’ll find March, you guys hurry up and go.”

“But Johnny-”

“I said _GO!_ ”

He’s back under the water before he even hears a ‘yes.’ Even in the daylight and the glow of the burning wreck, it’s difficult to make much of anything out. It takes forever for him to even catch a trace of pink, slowly descending into the depths.

March is the youngest among them, and with the least swimming practice. He kicks himself for not looking for her first, and grasps a limp little arm. She barely resists his tugging. She feels weightless as he finds the biggest floating piece of wreck and places her on it.

“Johnny!”

“May? I told you to head to shore!” He doesn’t see any signs of the others, which is at least a small condolence.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay!” She places a hand on the piece of metal that their crew member is lying on. “Let’s get March out of here- JOHNNY!”

That’s the last he can remember, before a wave of pain washed over him and the world around him went dark. Something was digging into the bare skin of his chest, squeezing the air from his lungs as he desperately tried to push it off of him.

So here was where he found himself. Some piece of massive metal pinning him down, pulling him down towards the bottom of the sea. The more he struggled, the more air was pressed out. A frantic inhale sent a rush of water down his throat, accompanied by a sharp ache that was equal parts inside of him and out.

May was nowhere to be found. It was hard to see much of anything in the darkness. That was good. If she was gone, then she was safe. Just as long as his girls were safe.

With the lack of light and his own wavering vision, he could scarcely see the hands in front of him. They grasped fruitlessly at the water overhead, reaching for something that wasn’t there. Maybe they were trying to grasp at the last few bubbles of air that escaped from his body, hoping to cling onto whatever it took to stay alive.

The world was cold. It was even colder when opened his eyes to find a pair of blood-red ones staring right back. The eyes almost seemed to glow as they bored into his soul, and the figure’s dark robes billowed around him in the nonexistent breeze.

In the recesses of his mind, he wanted to berate the reaper for coming so late. Even though his hazy, aimless, oxygen-starved thoughts, he couldn’t help but find humor. Was he that strong? Or was death really just that lazy?

If death had come, he supposed he didn’t mind. It hurt enough, he’d be glad for the pain to finally go away. He’d done enough in life. As long as it was him, and him alone, lying within the reaper’s vision.

Before he blacked out, one last thought floated through his mind.

_“Reaper, please…stay away from my girls.”_

++++++

Heaven, Johnny decided, looked far too much like a garden and smelled far too much like dirt for his liking.

It was supposed to be paradise, wasn’t it? This wasn’t the worst, perhaps, but his idea of heaven involved much more gold and expensive furniture. Although the ground underneath him did feel soft, sort of like a bed. He’d seen better, though.

Maybe it wasn’t all bad. There was a pretty fellow leaning over him, watching him with the sort of care and concern that he hadn’t seen since he was a little kid living with his father. At least if it was earthy and gross, heaven still had hot babes, and that was a-okay with him. Even if he looked a bit too much like Testament for his liking. Maybe God had rifled though his brain and stumbled across one of his fantasies.

It seemed that may have been the case. Long, thin fingers ran up his chest, stroking the fine muscles that he’d spent so much time working on in life. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted. He could still feel the lingering pain from where the water had flooded his lungs, but he hoped it would fade soon. The familiar-looking man was making it hard to focus on the pain with that pretty face of his, and the gentle hand stroking his body.

There was something vaguely serene about it, at least until an inhuman strength pressed against his ribcage, filling his ears with the sound of cracking. His already-muddled thoughts went out of sync, and all he could manage to do was gasp noiselessly and squirm.

Testament pressed harder against the man’s ribs, recalling the resuscitation steps that had been drilled into his decades ago during the war. It was far easier to do compressions now, with his obscene new strength, but now he had to hold himself back as to not immediately punch right through Johnny’s chest.

He couldn’t have just the left them all alone, could he? After all the hemming and hawing and angsting and brooding over it, he thought he was all well and done with the Jellyfish pirates, with letting Dizzy live her life. And now here he was again, watching from the shadows, finding himself inexplicably drawn to this group of flying criminals- not because of Dizzy, but because of their reckless, idiotic, and kind-spirited leader.

Testament felt Johnny move under him, body twitching and spasming. He reached up to gently turn the man’s head as he retched, coughing up a mix of vomit and salt water onto the mattress. A groan squeezed out of his oxygen-starved lungs, extended just slightly as the Gear made a little hand gesture to manipulate and funnel a stream of air down his trachea.

His movements were stiff, tense, and hurried, but there was still an odd sense of elegance as he fanned his fingers across the half-conscious man’s chest, moving his hand up to magically siphon the water from his lungs and replace it with more and more sweet oxygen.

“You’re an idiot, Sfondi. I’ve been alive eighty years and you’re still the most idiotic man I’ve ever met.” Still, he continued to do his work, feeling the heart beating shakily under his fingertips. It was still stable.

He wasn’t the fastest swimmer, even as strong as he was, which was why he spent the entire half-mile swim cursing his own choices. He’d jumped in as soon as the plane started going down, hoping that at worst, he’d look like a fool butting in when everyone was alright.

Another weak groan interrupted his thoughts. Testament looked down to find Johnny staring at him with blank eyes.

“Tess…?”

“Shh. Don’t waste air. Focus on breathing.”

Gradually, the shallow, ragged gasps deepen and soften into stilted breathing. Testament let his hand gently rest across broken ribs, murmuring a quiet incantation to piece the bone together overnight. He curled up by the pirate’s side, burying his nose in soft, salt-scented yellow hair, feeling the slow rise and fall of a chest under spread fingertips.

“Just keep breathing, Johnny.”


End file.
